I've had my stoma a month now. I was warned that fizzy drinks would cause a lot of gas, but I've been drinking coke with no problems. My stoma nurse reckons it's safe for me to start testing new foods.

Today I tried sprouts (yes I'm one of those weird people who like them ) , cooked until they were practically falling apart, and then put in a blender. If this goes well I'll start testing more fruit and veg. (I'm not going to try raw vegetables or seeds or anything too indegestible, just some well cooked veg and peeled fruits.)

What foods suit others with stomas? Has anyone had a blockage from something they've eaten?

Edit: one month since I started this thread, and I've just had a partial blockage. So I thought I'd add a message in this first post for anyone who comes across this thread but doesn't read it through to the end - be more careful than I was!

I love sprouts too, but haven't eaten them in a while. I often grow my own

Cooked veg is a great way to start.

Peels often cause the most grief for ostomates, so start by eating peeled fruits and veg first and then keep the skins on and chew well if you are comfortable adding them back. Blending (I.e. smoothies) are a great way to eat fruits and veg if you have problems with the whole food.

Good luck

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During my 14 years of being an ostomate, I rarely encountered blockages. I'll speak for myself as we all react differently to food but I'll list the few problematic ones that I have encountered. Generally speaking, I can eat everything.... as long as it is a small quantity of it even if they are problematic in generous amount. So, the following have caused me some scary time and 1 ER trip (and on some other occasion, I should have been). Often, it can be the combination that leads to the problem...

1- My first event was raw carrots + all brand + a complete orange :
Regarding Raw carrot: they are ok... if I don't eat them along with only fruits and veggies... If I mix with feculent/ meat / + lots of fluid, I'm fine, or simply in moderation (like 6 baby carrots for instance))Orange: oh dear orange... I have not eaten a complete orange since... If I do slice or quarter and leave most of the ... whatever you might want to call the skin of each part [Wow... here I am, I am having a language barrier] then it is all right. The flesh is fine but the thick skin is not. I apply that rule for all citrus.

2- The second happening was: "Learn the hard way that eating a bowl of bruxels sprouts (was that the kind of sprouts you were talking, if so, I love them too, with a dash of butter...) followed by a fresh granny smith is not ok":Bruxels sprouts: oh dear green leafy filled with nutrients, how close to hell you brought me! Once again, with else than fiberous food I can have a few in their original form... just not 10 of them and an apple... This had gotten me sick like I've rarely been in the past 10 years.

3- The Royal Coconut: Discovering food while travelling is always great... until you decide that eating fresh coconut flesh is the most amazing thing in the world and that you can't face the truth that you have to indulge yourself with moderation... That was a rough cuban night but I did survive :P

4- The Couscous Royal (I'm not meant to be a Queen): Even though all was cooked... that thing still contains 7 vegetables and legumes. When Moroccans treat you with that on a friday, its generally a gigantic one that they share with everyone and... it should be eaten till its over... Did I said something about moderation >.>?

5- Mystery Restaurant Vegetarian food: So... I like to eat mostly vegetarian... and how could I resist to the thought of a vegetarian wellington.... Dear god, was it the most awkward combo for an ostomate: spinach, mushrooms and sliced almond... I never saw the slice almond but this is one of the worst nightmare for me... Oh that was delicious, and covered with tomato sauce and grated cheese, but I did pay the price for it.
Mushroom: a big no no for some but I don't have issue, as long as I chew them immensely
Almond: about 5 of them and chewing patience is fine. In form of frangipane it's also alright. Mysteriously hidden in a vegetarian wellington is not.

Oh... and coleslaw; that's ok in small bit otherwise it's dangerous for me. Corn on cob and popcorn are to be cautious with!

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Just be very careful. I was told one food at a time 6 weeks post-op. Obviously avoid anything you avoided before for general IBD and stay away from the dangerous foods on your hospital take home sheets. Other than that as others are saying cook them, purée or juice and certainly no peels or high fiber foods.

I can eat everything. I've only had two blockages and even then I could not determine what caused it, as everything I had eaten before it happened were super soft foods. Chew everything really really thorough.

__________________Ulcerative colitis

Total colectomy with ileostomy featuring Sideshow Bob since January 2012

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i eat everything but like PJ in moderation. Citrus is the main problem for me as the stringy membrane is impossible to chew properly. Nothing has caused a blockage for me yet. I eat nuts, corn the occasional mushroom but again all in moderation and chewed well.
It probably depends on whether you have any narrowing of the bowel. All my bad bits have been cut out now and so other than causing a blockage right at the stoma Im not in any danger and eventuall the pressure builds up and pushes everything out.
Touchwood touchwood touchwood.

I think it's ok because you waited a while and peeling, mashing and cooking helps break down the fiber content. Normally most foods shouldn't be an issue so just continue being careful and slowly adding.

OMG, the other day I had a leftover mushroom dish and several hours after eating it I had pain in my stoma when passing stool... when I emptied my pouch I saw a WHOLE slice. I'm not going to see what a blockage feels like - CHEW YOUR FOOD! lol.

I waited for a whole year before trying mushrooms. I didn't have any problems, but yes, they practically come out the same as they went in, even if you chew them up real good!

Yup, they did that before my ostomy and I expect them to do that after... chewing is really the key, but when it's mixed into other food (rather than on their own), it's slightly more difficult to chew them completely.

I tried some onion which I think is also meant to be a common problem food. I only eat small portions and I chew a lot. As a guideline I'm kind of using the foods that gave me most problems pre-ostomy, and nuts and seeds were the worst for me, while vegetables weren't too bad in small quantities. I avoid high fibre cereals too, but did used to have some wholemeal bread, etc. before the stoma without noticeable problems.

I tried some onion which I think is also meant to be a common problem food. I only eat small portions and I chew a lot. As a guideline I'm kind of using the foods that gave me most problems pre-ostomy, and nuts and seeds were the worst for me, while vegetables weren't too bad in small quantities. I avoid high fibre cereals too, but did used to have some wholemeal bread, etc. before the stoma without noticeable problems.

Onions haven't been a problem for me and the only nuts I've been eating lately are walnuts and I chew them well.

The only food I avoid are things like buns with sesame seeds or bread with whole bits of flax seeds or grains, which you simply can't chew down well enough.

Just to add that I have noticed a difference in the output since I started eating more of these potential-blockage foods. It's still only a small amount of output, and still only in the evening/late evening 90% of the time. But where as before I would have porridge-consistency output, with occasional water-consistency output (the ileostomy equivalent of diarrhoea?), the past couple of days it's been the same but with hard bits in, the size is as if they were pieces of gravel. (I'm not even bothering with an apology for TMI, I think this thread crossed that point a long time ago. )

Seeing these bits made me realise just how possible it is for a blockage to occur should they be much bigger or in a large enough quantity to block the stoma. But I've also noticed how incredibly small my stoma is now to how it was even a few weeks back. So much swelling has gone away, I guess it's quite accurate when they advise you to wait 6 to 8 weeks before experimenting with fibrous foods.

Definitely noticing a difference in my stoma's output in terms of the amount of non-liquid bits. I think I'll take it a bit slower, only have one fruit/vegetable portion a day (besides the juice and avocados and bananas that have been providing my fruit and veg quota for the past six weeks. ).

My wife made a nice rice dish with cabbage, but the pieces weren't shredded, they were cut in approx. 1" wide strips. I made sure to chew really well, but in the evening, I noticed something big in my pouch - like I had swallowed a whole piece of cabbage without chewing at all.

I later emptied my bag, expecting to see whole pieces of cabbage everywhere, and at that point, I realized the mass I was feeling in my pouch was a Diamonds gelling sachet! LOL I had put one in earlier and totally forgot about it. The contents of my pouch were well processed - no cabbage LOL

VO I assumed you were female, not sure why. Maybe because most vegans I know are female. That's funny about the gel packet, I have had that before and was like what the heck is that. Do you use the Convatec diamond gel packs TR 104 or something? Do they actually reduce gas as they claim?

VO I assumed you were female, not sure why. Maybe because most vegans I know are female. That's funny about the gel packet, I have had that before and was like what the heck is that. Do you use the Convatec diamond gel packs TR 104 or something? Do they actually reduce gas as they claim?

Yeah, I'm outnumbered by all the vegan ladies!

Yes, it's the Convatec Diamonds (a.k.a. Trio Diamonds). I originally purchased them because of the gas reduction claim, but to be honest, it's never been successful for that. I don't use them often, but if I notice loose output, I'll put one in when I empty my pouch so things are thicker the next time around. The only time I needed them consistently was after my last surgery, where I went almost a week without solid food and my output was liquid and hard to manage in the hospital. The diamonds worked well for that, but I know there are more affordable products out there, that likely do the same job (for gelling). If only the gas claim worked....

I'll be doing a review on them at some point. I plan on posting my review of the Osto EZ-Vent this week - that's a great product for gas, when our pouch filters no longer do the trick. You do have to manually vent the gas with that product as it's closed when not in use.